I'm searching for literature on how to control ones mood.
Is there anything that's not 80% about meditation?
I'm just posting here to let you know the thread subject made me kek
>>7828134
How do you want to control your mood? Do you get angry too easy? Or are you depressed all the time? Or are you too impulsive. Details help send pie.
>>7828153
I think my biggest fear is to waste time.
I have some goals, career and life, and I sometimes get thrown back if I get into some non-life treating trouble (like unexpectedly having to pay 400 bucks for this and that thing - it doesn't actually matter to me but such things take off too much of my mental energy).
I want to be stoic about certain things, say.
It's probably one of the main reason I read into philosophy.
>>7828205
Get off 4chan then.
>>7828205
meditation is about enhancing your hedonism, in going from material hedonism to spiritual hedonism.
Once you understand that even spiritual hedonism does not work, in order to be happy, because you still take seriously what you think and what you feel, you ditch even spiritual hedonism. Nonetheless, spiritual hedonism is necessary, to understand that the stupidity of choosing to cling to what you feel and what you think.
here are many books, talks and videos on the dhamma, so I cannot list all.
I give a bit of everything, in the school called the theravadan. this school is the most straightforward and does not insist on ''the vacuity (of personality and permanence) '', like the Zen buddhists and the tibetans love to talk on, but it remains the same (the practices preliminary to the jhanas [=the practice of morality in daily life] differ a lot though)
this is the first thing to take: watch videos of these retreats, especially the Q&A. this monk is famous and easy to follow. he is a good introduction, with some hippies flavors. he is quite rigorous in demanding that the jhanas are states where you no longer feel the 6 senses [people tend to lower the bar of these states, but they still call them jhanas]
watch first videos of talks during a retreat
https://www.youtube.com/user/AjahnBrahmRetreats/videos
another first thing to watch:
a short video on the jhanas
[YouTube] What is Jhana? By Ven. Henepola Gunaratana Nayaka Maha Thera(Bhante G) (embed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lv0PFLZ12o
[YouTube] Bhante Gunaratana (1) What is samatha-vipassana? Part 1: samatha (embed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFOjJtEd2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESQOi9djyaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41NpmB2le3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=div3NnAIoYU
and all the others videos from this series
The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation by Henepola Gunaratana
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html
Mindfulness in plain English, Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.
http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf2/Mindfulness%20in%20Plain%20English%20Book%20Preview.pdf
http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.php
Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English: An Introductory Guide to Deeper States of Meditation, Book by Henepola Gunaratana
http://www.wisdompubs.org/sites/default/files/preview/Beyond%20Mindfulness%20Book%20Preview.pdf
>This site is dedicated to the teachings of Venerable Ayya Khema (1923-1997), a Theravada Buddhist nun ordained in Sri Lanka . Her teachings (which were prolific) describe simple and effective meditation methods for development of calm and insight, for expanding feelings of loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity towards others, and for overcoming obstacles to practice. She also gives detailed and lucid instructions for the meditative absorptions (jhanas) which provide access to higher states of consciousness, the way the Buddha himself practiced.
http://ayyakhematalks.org/
>>7828205
Have you ever read Seneca's 'On the shortness of life'?
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_shortness_of_life/Chapter_I
>>7828214
>insisting on the setting the samatha first, this book recast the use of the mindfulness through the three angas, [swift introduction to the various sources PLUS good introduction to ''mindfulness'']
A History of Mindfulness Bhikkhu Sujato.pdf
http://santifm.org/santipada/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A_History_of_Mindfulness_Bhikkhu_Sujato.pdf
>Moment to Moment Mindfulness, A PICTORIAL MANUAL FOR MEDITATORS, Achan Sobin S. Namto
http://vipassanadhura.com/momenttomoment.htm
>>7828214
>meditation is about enhancing your hedonism, in going from material hedonism to spiritual hedonism
Meditation is just a tool, m8.
>>7828206
I know there is thread of the degenerate culture making you into someone unpleasant or making you sad, but I it's a problem 4chan for me. Wasting time online, yes, maybe, but not browsing 4chan in particular. Is (current) information combined with entertainment - I think it's an underrated site in that regard.
>>7828217
I have it on my computer. Question: how does it connect to Stoicism?
I must find out what "spiritual hedonism" is.
What I don't want to do, in the path of being more cool about negative stuff, is stopping what I do.
I'm also this person: (>>7828191)
I asked in this thread specifically about non-eastern stuff, but I'll take a look at your links and come back to your post later.
>>7828205
>>7828235
I meant it in a more of the "stop wasting time on the internet" way than 4chan specifically.
>>7828267
Say I stay off the internet - that still doesn't help me much with being cool about obstacles.
But yes, I think reading and working out more in this time would do good.
>>7828271
I'm not sure what you mean by obstacles. I like to try to work out when I'm watching movies on my computer, especially when it gets to pumped scenes.
>>7828272
When things don't work and you spend time and energy worrying about them, or fear that they come.
>>7828275
Be the river.
>>7828134
The only real answers are: Mindfulness, Mediation, Stoicism, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
>>7828328
Seems like the list of things you know that relate to it.
What are things that relate to it that don't work?
>>7828214
Are you Siddhartha? I started reading it and that's basically what's happening in the book to the point where I'm at
>>7828134
reading Freud will help. he can't teach you to control your mood, but he can teach you to be so paranoid about exposing your unconscious that you control your mood as a side effect.
>>7828214
>videos of talks during a retreat
>https://www.youtube.com/user/AjahnBrahmRetreats/videos
What the fuck is up with those teddybears?
>>7828134
PUT YOUR FEET DOWN, YOU BITCH
>>7828206
>Get off 4chan then.
Not even joking: do this.
This is a very negative site, and reading all those negative comments can really get to you if you're already in a bad mood. It becomes a circle of negativity that's not easy to break. Just take a break from 4chan and other negative things. Read a happy book. Cuddle your pet. Go for a walk. Anything that's positive will probably improve your mood. Unless you are clinically depressed. Then you should probably see a doctor, because these things won't usually work for that.
As for what books to read, I don't know of any that could give you advice, but I recommend reading easy, escapist books when you feel stressed. I read YA fantasy when I'm feeling stressed out, because it lets me forget about all the trouble in my life and instead focus on dragons and shit. Mysteries are good too, because you can focus on whodunit instead of obsessing over your own problems.
>>7828328
>mediation
*meditation
Pretty much this.
But also hypnosis.
I tried hypnosis audio,
Such as Paul Mckenna, to get a feel for it.
But self hypnosis is the next level.
There is some overlap between hypnosis, NLP and CBT, which have some overlap from mysticism, shamanism, and magic(k)
>beautiful woman reading
This is not America. It can't be.
Not exactly literature, but MoodGym is very related:
https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/
Basically a self-training web site for MOOD CTRL.
>>7828214
>meditation is about enhancing your hedonism
Meditation is necessary for Buddhist because it gives them the self control and mindfulness that is required for deep phenomenological investigation and mental strengthening. If you are meditating as a way to achieve happy mental states then you are doing it wrong. It's therapy, in the sense that you are diagnosing and healing bad mental habits and it's exercise, in that you are mental strengthening yourself so as to achieve enlightenment.
>>7828480
going on [s4s] has literally stopped from committing suicide
>>7829897
If the only thing stopping you from offing yourself is 4chan then you deserve to die.
>>7828214
>meditation is about enhancing your hedonism, in going from material hedonism to spiritual hedonism.
>>7829906
No, it's definitely not the 'only' thing, but it certainly helped. Besides, going on /tv/ or [r9k] would probably engender further thoughts of suicide, whereas [s4s] quells them. 4chan isn't a homogeneous thing, my man.
>>7829045
I feel like avoiding unhappy states is close enough to what I'd mean with arriving at happy states.
But A) I was speaking about avoiding bad states above
And B) I was making the thread with the disclaimer to not only speak about meditation
>>7828559
>beautiful woman reading
The twist of the pic was supposed to be that it's not a "woman" but a hot 14yo child actress
>>7830034
>14yo
jesus
>>7830073
Indeed, that's way too old.
>>7830136
But all people will eventually get to that age
What do you think she's reading?
>>7830257
the Tractatus
>>7830354
Pretty sure it's McDowell's "Mind and World"
>>7830354
I take that back, here's the Catcher in the Rye. Those book pics are 2edgy
What's the definition of "addicted"?
Can one be addicted to feeling bad?
(I've read that notion in the context of self-healing)
>>7832092
answer your own questions buddy, u can do it
>>7829045
>>7829045
>If you are meditating as a way to achieve happy mental states then you are doing it wrong
This is straight up, 100% wrong. The Jhanas are absolutely fundamental to Buddhism, and they could very much be considered 'happy mental' states.
lrn2 buddhism scrub, before you start spreading misinformation.
>>7832092
To be addicted you need a substance and a withdrawal symptom. But I imagine in self-help circles it could mean something like "sabotaging yourself" or "finding comfort in failing yourself".
